Although I’ve loved yoga for a long time, my love for Kundalini yoga & meditation started in 2015 and has been a roller-coaster of self-discovery ever since.
I think I first heard about it from a dear friend, but it wasn’t until an interesting experience happened that my interest was really piqued…
I had been short of breath for a few months prior, and one night while babysitting I had a random asthma attack. I was actually reading a Kundalini yoga book at the time of the attack, and I simultaneously remembered my friend mentioning her habit of listening to mantra music. I also had a thought that my asthma was actually an emotional block and the idea to look up mantra music popped into my head. So I typed “mantra music” into iTunes and the first song I listened to was “Prana”. The tightness in my chest immediately lifted! And then the very next chapter I read was about prana, the breath of life.
The rest of that night I would listen to that sample clip of “Prana” whenever I felt short of breath and it always helped. I emailed my friend and told her about my perceived blockage and she suggested I try the Antar Naad meditation (Sa Re Sa Sa). I read her message the following morning and figured I’d just find a song, since it worked so well for me the night before. So before I even got out of bed, I found another sample on iTunes and started listening to it.
No sooner had the song started playing than tears started streaming down my face and the remaining tightness in my chest was lifted. And I’ve been able to breathe ever since! I started listening to mantra music regularly after that experience, and I would notice when certain songs resonated with me. I would then look up the meaning(s) behind the mantras and sure enough, it directly applied to what I was struggling with at the time of listening!
I knew that if there was peace to be found in something as simple as playing mantras, then there had to be something to this whole Kundalini yoga/meditation business… I’ve been consistently meditating ever since and I continue to listen to mantra music day and night. It has blessed my life, and now I want to teach others how to be healthy, happy and holy.
In case you’re new to Kundalini Yoga, let me give you a BRIEF introduction. According to my teacher Felice Austin, “The sacred kriyas and meditations that make up Kundalini Yoga have been preserved for thousands of years. They were handed down through a royal, priestly lineage from master to student, but only after the student had proven himself trustworthy […] This practice kept the technology from being misused or diluted.” Yogi Bajhan decided to break with tradition and began teaching Kundalini Yoga when he arrived in America in the 1960’s. This spiritual science helps us break through our own self-destructive traditions and arrive at a place of empowered peace.
It wasn’t until I discovered the spiritual practice of Kundalini Yoga, and really started to embrace the meaning of Sat Nam, that something inside me started to click. “I am Truth, Truth is My Identity.” Everything I am, right here and right now, is enough. What an empowering and freeing thought! As I began to shift from a place of judgment to a place of acceptance for myself, I was better able to extend that courtesy to others. Everyone is doing the best they can with what they have. There is no good person or bad person, just people. And all bodies are good bodies.
As soon as I stopped labeling myself and others, I started to recognize how often we label the world around us, including our food. Eventually I became more and more uncomfortable with the labels I had once accepted as truth from my social and educational upbringing. We aren’t fighting a war against obesity, we’re telling people that they’re bad. And we extend that belief to the food we put in our mouths. Take a cupcake, for example. Yes, it’s made with sugar, food dye, and white flour. When you hold that cupcake in your hand, what do you see? A bad food.
But what if, instead of labeling food as bad and therefore ourselves as bad because we want to eat it or because we choose to indulge, we see things differently. Someone made that cupcake. Maybe we know and love that person, and this food item was gifted to us. Maybe we don’t know the person behind the treat, but I can promise it came from someone with thoughts and feelings as valid as our own. Perhaps a skilled baker who finds joy in his or her craft. And what about the ingredients that went into the making of the cupcake? Think of the cashier, the storekeeper, the harvester, the farmer. And they are people just like us, doing the best they can.
I’m not saying there isn’t value in clean eating. I am not suggesting that you go and eat pizza all day, every day. What I am suggesting is that there is value in pizza simply because it exists. And while it may not always be the best option for our physical bodies, it may on occasion be a great option for our spiritual well-being. Please, by all means, find a wellness program that supports your specific nutritional needs. And as you implement your particular protocol, it’s important that you remember: food is more complex than we give it credit for while still being beautifully simple in its ability to nourish our souls.
Our worth as individuals is unchanging. Take a dirty and tattered hundred dollar bill to the bank and they will still accept it as valuable currency. No matter how damaged we are, or how processed our food is, there is an inherent value that is worthwhile. And that is what I’m encouraging us to explore, to rediscover and embrace as truth.
Filling our food with harmful and unkind thoughts is far more toxic than the processed and unhealthy components that make up our food. I believe in the beauty and power of Namaste: the Light in Me recognizes the Light in You, and in that tree, and in that rock, and in that cupcake or pizza. Yes, we can raise our vibration and improve our health by eating whole foods or celebrating our body through exercise. But what if we can believe in ourselves, in the perfection of our Inner Light, in such a way that raises the vibration of the world around us? What if we can heal ourselves by healing our relationship with our food?
I find joy and meaning in the connection of all things. We all come from the same Source. My food and I are one and the same, because we are a part of a Greater Whole. From our first breath until our last, we need food for our survival. We also need it to enjoy life, by allowing our food to feed not only our physical bodies, but also our subtle bodies. For lasting health we need to balance our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being. I invite you to connect with your food on every level, and discover true health for yourself.
